“Is there such a thing as stand-up existentialism? If not, Will Eno has just invented it.” -NY Times

Local theatre artists Mitchell Thomas (Westmont, Lit Moon) and Maurice Lord (Genesis West) collaborate to bring Thom Pain (based on nothing) by Will Eno to SBMA June 26 and 28.

A theatrical experience that promises to be intimate, mind-bending and brutally funny. Thom Pain examines a history of lost love and lost innocence through recklessly reckoning the only three or four things that have happened to him in his life. The writing cleverly subverts the audience’s every expectation in this celebration of the extraordinary wonder of being utterly ordinary. As Thom Pain desperately and uncomfortably searches for the answers we come to realize that He’s just like us, except worse and it isn’t really his story at all, but ours.

Will Eno’s internationally heralded play Thom Pain (based on nothing) had a year-long run at the DR2 in New York following a sold-out run at the August 2004 International Edinburgh Festival (Fringe First Award and the Herald Angel Award), and a subsequent transfer to the Soho Theatre in London. The play has been produced across the United States, as well as Italy, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Israel, Mexico, and many other countries. Thom Pain (based on nothing) was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

“Astonishing in its impact…It’s one of those treasured nights in the theatre—treasured nights anywhere, for that matter—that can leave you both breathless with exhilaration and, depending on your sensitivity to meditations on the bleak and beautiful mysteries of human experience, in a puddle of tears. Also in stitches, here and there. Mr. Eno is a Samuel Beckett for the John Stewart generation…To sum up the more or less indescribable: THOM PAIN is at bottom a surreal meditation on the empty promises life makes, the way experience never lives up to the weird and awesome fact of being. But it is also, in its odd, bewitching beauty, an affirmation of life’s worth…a small masterpiece.” —NY Times.

“Eno has emerged as one of the most original young playwrights on the scene. He is one of the few writers who can convert discomfort and outright agony into such pleasure.” —Time Out NY.

“It’s hard to imagine more dazzling writing on any stage…Eno is light, rhythmic and meticulous.” —London Daily Telegraph.

Described as “Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation” Will Eno is one of the most unique and vital voices in contemporary theatre. His new play The Realistic Joneses has recently opened in New York with an all-star cast to rave reviews. He received the PeN/Laura Pels International Foundation Award for an American Playwright in Mid-Career. Will Eno, has been called by the New York Times “a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation.” His work reaches audiences across nations and cultures. After premiering at the Gate Theatre in London, his play the Flu Season opened in New York and received the Oppenheimer Award for the best debut production by an American playwright in 2004. His other plays include Tragedy: a tragedy,King: a problem play, and Eno’s most widely celebrated work, Thom Pain (based on nothing), a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. He is a Helen Merrill Playwriting Fellow, a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, an Edward F. Albee Foundation Fellow, and the first-ever recipient of the Marian Seldes/Garson Kanin Fellowship by the Theater Hall of Fame.

Maurice Lord (Director)
Maurice has directed over forty theatrical productions. He co-founded Genesis West in 1998 where some of his directorial highlights include: The Designated Mourner, Endgame, A Number (Independent Theatre Award) , Curse of the Starving Class, The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Independent Theatre Award), La Terrasse, Bug, The Pillowman, The God of Hell, The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, Far Away, Blue Heart (Independent Theatre Award), Mud (Independent Theatre Award), Escape From Happiness, Criminal Genius and Buried Child. He directed The Fever by Wallace Shawn, which was performed in Santa Barbara, London, Hollywood and Spokane. He has directed plays in New York and Los Angeles. For more info visit: www.mauricelord.com. Maurice is a magician member of the Academy of Magical Arts at The Magic Castle.

Mitchell Thomas (Thom Pain)Mitchell is an actor, director, producer, and teacher, and is thrilled to be teaming up again with Director Maurie Lord after working with him on Wallace Shawn’s Obie award-winning one man play, The Fever, which played in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and London. Other recent acting credits include Indy-award winning performances as Gustav in Creditors at the Ensemble Theatre Company and the Troll King in Peer Gynt with the Lit Moon Theatre. Mitchell will also be playing Lopahkin in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard with Lit Moon in September 2014, as well as Polonius and Laertes in Lit Moon’s Hamlet, which will premiere at the National Theatre of China in October 2014. Recent directing credits at include Electra (Indy Award), Thirsty, Ricochet, Much Ado About Nothing, Celluloid, Macbeth, Animal Farm, The Bald Soprano (Indy award), The Servant of Two Masters, Muéveme, Muévete, and the Saint Plays. This will be Mitchell’s fourth collaboration with SBMA to date, including directing and producing pop-up Shakespeare inspired by Delacroix’s Hamlet Suite, directing Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile in a Picasso exhibit, and producing Tim Crouch’s provocative meditation on the value of art and human life, England, set in SBMA’s Davidson gallery.